Chocolate Mousse

Chop the chocolate finely. Bring the cream up to the boil, turn off the heat, add the chocolate to the cream and stir it around until the chocolate melts in the cream, then add in the booze, if using, and whisk in the egg yolks.

Whisk the egg whites until just stiff, then stir in a quarter of the egg white, fold in the rest, gently, being careful not to knock all the air out.

Put into little bowls, glasses or cups; and leave for an hour or two in the fridge to set.

Serve with coconut or almond macaroons, or amaretti biscuits.

**NOTE You could put 1 macaroon into each little glass or cup and top up with the chocolate mousse. Pop into the fridge for an hour or two to set.

**NOTE This is great without the macaroon too, just as a plain chocolate mousse

**NOTE For a really intense chocolate mousse, leave the two beaten egg whites out and serve in tiny espresso cups

**NOTE To make chocolate mousse infused with earl grey tea, put 2 tsp earl grey tea leaves into the saucepan with the cream and bring up to the boil, then strain the leaves out of the cream, and proceed as above.

Coconut or Almond Macaroons

These are so simple to make, and can keep for 4 or 5 days easily in an airtight box

Ingredients

110g desiccated coconut, or ground almonds

75g caster sugar

1 egg white, slightly beaten

Method

To make the macaroons, preheat the oven to 180c/350f.

Put desiccated coconut, or ground almonds, caster sugar, and the egg white into a bowl, and stir to combine, it should be firm yet slightly sticky .

Roll small desert spoonfuls of the mixture into balls, and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.